As a tech lead, you so frequently get request from above or from other teams to drop what you are doing and work on this thing they need, now.
During my 4 years at Uber after asking these questions, 9 out of 10 times it turned out it wasn't really urgent:
- "What is the impact of this work you're asking for?" If the impact is unclear: sorry, but we can't do the work. Why would we?
Just this question made the requester realize half the time they just think it's urgent, but don't know what the work will actually result in.
- "Do you have a spec that is agreed with stakeholders?" A writeup answering the "why" and the "what" that is signed off by relevant business folks.